Local colleges make their mark in dollars, cents

ROBERT ZULLOStaff Writer

Sunday

Jun 10, 2007 at 10:44 AMJun 10, 2007 at 11:15 AM

HOUMA -- They offer higher-education options considerably more convenient than a trek to Lafayette, New Orleans or Baton Rouge. They are major local employers, providing jobs for hundreds of workers in cafeterias and classrooms alike. And their student bodies are a captive consumer base for local businesses.

But the two major local institutions of higher learning, Nicholls State University in Thibodaux and Houma’s L.E. Fletcher Technical Community College, offer benefits beyond increased sales-tax revenue and sources of employment for Terrebonne and Lafourche residents.

Jobs and consumer numbers fail to tell the full scope of the schools economic impact, according to Morris Coats, a Nicholls professor of economics and finance.

"That really doesn’t get to the heart of what schools like Nicholls and Fletcher do for the area," Coats said. "Spending of students, spending of faculty members, that is only a very small portion of the value."

By making it easier and cheaper for local students to get an education, and thereby a higher-paying job, the schools directly drive income levels for a population group that might not be able to pay more or travel farther for a degree.

"Average incomes can largely be explained by the investment people make in their own education," Coats said. "Since schools like Nicholls and Fletcher lower the cost of making that investment, it increases the prosperity of the citizens."

Louisiana residents earn approximately $9.4 billion less than they would if the state’s level of educational attainment were equal to the national average, Coats said.

Lafourche has about the same level of education, at least in terms of college graduates as the rest of the state, while Terrebonne is a bit lower, Coats said.

In 2002, Lafourche’s average per-capita income was $25,835 a year, while Terrebonne reported an average $23,036. Both were well above the state average, Coats added.

"Our critical position in the oil industry is mostly responsible," Coats said, though he added the presence of Nicholls and Fletcher were "contributing factors" to the region’s income levels.

What levels of education, and income, might look like without Fletcher and Nicholls in the local picture, is a truer indication of the schools’ importance, Coats added.

"The real question is what would they be like if those institutions weren’t here," he said.

The presence of a four-year university like Nicholls, which enrolled 6,814 students in the fall of 2006 and attracts cultural and athletic events, can also drive up local property values.

"If Nicholls wasn’t here, would the real estate in the rest of the area be worth as much as it is?" Coats said, noting housing costs in Thibodaux near the university are significantly higher than surrounding communities. "That’s rather doubtful."

The rising values, in turn, more than make up for the revenue the parish loses from the tax-exempt school, Coats added. "All of the property values are higher as a result, you might give up a little bit of revenue in one place, but you make it up somewhere else," he said.

Fletcher, founded in 1951 as the South Louisiana Trade School, is a commuter institution that doesn’t provide the campus environment, athletics and cultural offerings available at Nicholls. What the school does offer, however, are degree programs and certifications tailored to the local job market, which is desperate to fill positions in welding, HVAC, machine tool technology and other skilled blue-collar fields.

The school also offers a variety of degree programs in computer technology, business, accounting and marine industries.

Though general-education courses, with transferable credits, are also available, Fletcher’s operating philosophy is getting students hired, according Marianne McCrory, the school’s coordinator of institutional development.

"Because we train individuals for the immediate workforce, they’re trained to supply job demand. ... The impact to the community is immediate," McCrory said. "It is not traditional for the students to leave the area."

Fletcher graduates, especially for the school’s trade programs, make an immediate impact on the local economy, according to McCrory.

"The skill sets and most of the jobs the students are being trained for are of the high-demand, high-paying jobs," she said.

The school charges the lowest community college tuition rate in the state -- $52 per credit hour. Grant-funded programs in specific areas, like welding and machine-tool technology, are free.

"They get good value because they can get a relatively high-paying job in a short amount of time for a relatively low cost," McCrory said.

The school employs 80-full time faculty and staff and 32 part-time faculty and staff.

The Fletcher workforce is expected to grow, since an additional $1 million for the school -- part of a $29.6 billion budget proposal working through the state Legislature -- could be approved this summer.

More employees, courses, students and buildings will also increase the college’s economic footprint, as the additional state money is sought to pay for a landmark expansion planned for the next several years, McCory added.

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